The horses in Central Park are probably out
This past June, an 18 year-old was killed in Central Park after a horse bolted from a horse-drawn carriage, and that very likely is the final straw for the horses. For those not too keyed into NYC politics, the “New York City Council” is analogous to NYC’s congress—it has 51 elected members who dream up and vote on legislation (you live in a district which includes the West Village, Chelsea, and Hell’s Kitchen, and your councilmember is Carl Wilson). For a city law to pass, a majority of the 51-member council has to vote for it, and as of a very contentious hearing last week, more than 26 councilmembers support a horse ban. A vote is on the horizon and while Mamdani has veto power, he also supports the ban. So in short (i) the horses, (ii) are likely, (iii) out.
There are some rather passionate advocates on both sides of the carriage. On the pro-horse side are the carriage operators, which are part of the Transport Workers Union that also counts among its members subway and bus workers. That union is a powerful, organized, and vocal voting bloc, and it likely explains why horse-drawn carriages—the primary mode of transportation in the 1860s—are still ambling around in a world where you just summoned an e-bike with a jetpack to your apartment for a burrito. (And in fact the union just put out a nice little attack ad—narrated by a guy with an epic old-school FUGGEDABOUTIT accent—on Julie Menin, the leader of the City Council, who supports the ban)
On the neigh side are animal rights activists and now even the Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit organization that manages Central Park. Following the recent death, the latter expressly asked the City Council for ban legislation. That call has now been answered, and the various city and state representatives representing our neighborhood, including councilmember Carl Wilson, NYS assemblyman Tony Simone, and NYS senator Erik Bottcher, are now all in favor of the ban.
Will keep the block updated once it comes time for the electeds to vote on the bill.